A containment conduit is often used to house one or more carrier conduits, where the carrier conduits transport hazardous materials. The purpose of the containment conduit is to contain leaks that may develop in the carrier conduits.
When one of the carrier conduits is in need of repair or when it is desired to modify one of the carrier conduits, the containment conduit surrounding that carrier conduit must be cut into to allow access to the carrier conduit. This results in an open section in the containment conduit, typically defining a first containment conduit section and an opposed second containment conduit section. After repairs or modifications are accomplished to the carrier conduit, the two containment conduit sections must be sealed to one another—to thus reestablish the overall seal of the containment conduit. Typically, a closure fitting is employed to seal the two containment sections to one another.
Also, closure fittings are frequently employed during the initial installation of a carrier conduit within a containment conduit when the containment conduit is either pre-existing or is otherwise fixed in place.
Prior art closure fittings typically comprise one or more couplings that slide over the exposed open ends of the two containment sections and seal the two containment sections to one another. It is also typical that the one or more couplings must be simultaneously cemented or welded (depending on the containment pipe material) to the exposed open ends of the containment conduit sections. The drawback to such prior art closure fitting is that it is difficult to accomplish quality simultaneous cementing or welding jobs. Also, the fully assembled closure fitting is permanently attached to the conduit sections, so that, if a problem were to develop with the repair or modification to the containment pipe, the closure fitting must be cut away and replaced.
Accordingly, there is a need for a closure fitting that provides easier assembly and can be easily separated after installation to provide access to the one or more carrier pipes.